DALY: Twists, turns abound in first round of U.S. Open

Yes, you do, and it makes for a better Open. One thing that helps create these birdie chances is Congressional’s fairways, which are wider than at most Open venues. They enable players like Oosthuizen, players confident in their driver, to use the club more and shorten some of these longer holes.

“It’s one of my favorite clubs,” he said, “and I enjoy hitting it off the tee. It’s a long golf course, and you want to try and get it as far down there as you can.”

But that doesn’t mean Congressional doesn’t have teeth. Despite optimum scoring conditions — “about as good as it’s going to get,” in the opinion of Stewart Cink, who put up a 71 — only leader Rory McIlroy really had his way with the course. The 22-year-old wonder from Northern Ireland had the kind of opening round Colin Montgomerie did in 1997, the last time the Open was at Congressional: a magical, hiccup-free 65.

But aside from the kid, nobody really tore it up. The low men after him were Y.E. Yang and Charl Schwartzel at 68. (In ‘97, I’ll just point out, we had a 65, which was then 5-under, and two 66s in the first round.)

Still, who wouldn’t rather see an Open like this — an Open that’s more than just four days of slow bleeding, an Open that’s bursting with birdies and bogies and thrills and spills? It doesn’t matter that, by the end of the day Sunday, the leaders might be clustered around par. What matters is how entertainingly they got there.

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About the Author

Dan Daly has been writing about sports for the Washington Times since 1982. He has won numerous national and local awards, appears regularly in NFL Films’ historical features and is the co-author of “The Pro Football Chronicle,” a decade-by-decade history of the game. Follow Dan on Twitter at @dandalyonsports –- or e-mail him at ddaly@washingtontimes.com.